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This is the first step in starting your website. Domain is simply the name of your website. For example, if you sign up with a website builder such as “Yola” it will be www.mywebsite. Yola.com. This will be a free name. If you don’t want the “Yola” in your name, you will have to buy it. This cost will range from $9.95 to $19.95. Your website builder or host will give you basic steps for buying your domain.

Advantages of having your own domain:

Buying your own domain makes your site look so much more professional. It makes it so much easier for people to find, as well. If your objective is making money on the web then this is important, but we will talk about this later.

In creating your domain you are undoubtedly going to have to think about the following:

Your domain name or url should be relevant to your business or product. By using a dictionary or thesaurus, you can find synonyms of one word to describe what you are selling. For example, if “alexjewelry.com” is currently unavailable (or someone already had or purchased that domain) you can replace it with “alexpuregold.com”. You should replace and think of words that best tell about your site and products on it.

If you want to reach local people or consumers, you should register your domain under your country. For example, if your shop is currently in Australia then you might use, “mysiteshop.co.au”. There are advantages of using a specific country. One advantage of using a specific country is it is likely to be available and easier to register. People will also think that you are close, and that will create more trust to your site.

Keywords:

Using keywords on your domain might be an excellent idea, too. For example if your site is selling Digital Cameras, then you might use “Digitalcameras.com”. This will make it searchable on the internet. You can also use a specific brand name for your product. For example, “Sonydigicams.com” could be used. This will be easier for people to find because they might type the specific brand name.

Using .com for a domain name is extremely common. History and people assume that websites names always end in .com. This is not true. You can try something different like .net or .info. People might even find it easier to remember if you use another suffix domain name. You may also find that using .net or .info is easier to register rather than using.com.

Don’t use unusual characters for your domain name. Fox example “mywebsite!@. People do not type these characters into search engines.

Make your site easy and readable. Avoid names that are too long. Limit your name to 6-8 letters if possible.

If the name you want is not available, sometimes your web host will suggest names for you. This is not a terrible idea. Believe it or not, your web host should offer you ideas for keywords that will help you. In light of this, don’t hesitate to use their suggested available domains.

Buying Your Domain

After you have chosen the right domain, you need to register it. It’s like purchasing a product in a store and you need to pay by an online transaction. For example if you have a Paypal Account, visa card or debit card that would be the fastest way of paying. An excellent site to purchase your domain from, in my opinion, is www.GoDaddy.com. This site offers you both inexpensive domains and superb web building tools. There is a small monthly fee, but it is certainly well worth it.

There are several ways promote your website. Start with the submission of your URL to Google and Yahoo. You can go to the major search engines and key in the words “submit my site to Google or free site submission.” The process is extremely straight forward after that. You just have to follow the steps they provide.

After a few days, and once the search engines notice your site’s existence, you will get indexed. This simply means that your site is flowing through the servers or computers of the major search engines. Actually this is a safe way of doing things, but not entirely necessary. Google, Yahoo, Bing and other major search engines, all have advanced technology using a system called spidering in which they’re consistently and aggressively searching the web for new websites and content. In light of this, without even attempting to do so you will get indexed. That simply means that your site is flowing through the servers or computers of the major search engines. This might take some time, however. Give it a few days.

Getting indexed is one thing but getting notice is another. This really depends on your page’s keywords and tags. Key words and tags are descriptors of what people might type in when trying to find a topic. In other words, what people will query. For example, if you are trying to find “dog collars” then that is what you would type into the search engine. If your keywords contain this description, then you site is more likely to appear. Most places you submit your site to will ask you for key words. In other words, your key words must be relevant to the content on your site. Make sure you put some thought into the concept of “what would you key into the search engines if you were the one looking for your site.”

Here, are a few more basic tips on how to get noticed on the web:

Social Networks and Classified Ads

• Share your website with your relatives, friends and your community of interest by using social networking sites. These include facebook, twitter, myspace, etc. It will help you get ranked higher in the search engines and thus direct drive traffic to your site. Other people can also create a link by bookmarking your page, and it will generate awareness. If you have any of these accounts, it will help to post your sites name and URL on these.

• Join Discussion forums, social community, discussion boards, etc. Write about your products or services in a descent, honest way. At the end of the discussion, you can plug into your signature and the URL of your website. People may visit your site and bookmark your page.

• Submit in your blogs or website to free classified ads. There are many of them on the web and to my understanding, it really doesn’t matter which one you submit them to just as long as you get them listed. You can do a Google or Yahoo search for free classified ads and keep clicking on whatever appears. Sometimes you have to join, but they are usually free. Just be sure you can add your actual URL to these - http://mysite.com.

• Once you have done these steps, and your site has reached some popularity, it is time to start thinking about a concept called back linking. This and generating revenue from your site will be two topics discussed in our upcoming blogs.

A beginner who wants to build a personal or online business website will ask things such as “How do I even start to build a website? What is the best website builder to use? How do I publish my website and how do I get people to look at it?” If you query search engines such as Google or Yahoo for this answer, tonnes of sites come up offering different services and free trials, but many are languages and coding most people can’t even understand.

This has encouraged me to create links which will give you a list of user friendly websites, tools, and other information to get you on the road to building a successful and profitable website.

There is a lot to say about the design and layout of a web page, but I will try to keep this as uncomplicated as possible.

Overall Content and Purpose of your Website

• Be aware of the content of your blog or website. First, determine what you want to tell your readers and stick to that topic. In reading many blogs, I find they have a tendency to jump around a lot. It’s essential that you keep the purpose of your site in mind and not to deviate from that.

• Next think about organization. What is the logical flow of topics that you want to discuss and put them in that order. Remember that readers go to your site for a purpose, and they expect the content to be in order. It is perhaps best to map out a flow chart or diagram before you begin.

Your Homepage

• Think your homepage as the sites table of contents. From the home page, the readers can go to other links or pages to get the exact content or information they want.

• Choose clean and neat themes or templates from your website builder. However, if you have some extra money, there’s nothing wrong with paying for customizable templates that can add style to your page. Don’t use image backgrounds and badly designed templates that look cheap and amateurish. Remember, first impressions are critical.

Text and body

• Your text and body should be easy and readable. When designing the colors of your page you are best to keep them simple and appealing. Keep in mind the people are there to read your content and not look at splashy objects in your site. Light or pastel colors are the best, and the background to your text is best kept clean and white. In general, don’t use anything that will distract your readers from the text.

• In the text body, avoid floating or flashing images or anything that is too obtrusive to the readers. Avoid using big and bulky images or too many plug-ins in the content of your blog or site. One or two images are OK but make sure that they are related. These eye catchy icons can be placed at your side bar or at the end of your post. They also take much more time to load and will drive your visitors away.

• Avoid adding annoying sounds such as mouse click sounds, beeps, etc. It is common for people as they develop their skills in web design to want to try out all the bells and whistles available. To the novice developer this sounds cool. But in reality it is nothing more than distracting.

• Be sure to do grammar checks and spell checks after you have finished. Literate people will easily notice your poor spelling and poor grammar, and it is particularly distracting, to say the least. Lastly, check and double check to make sure your content is readable and understandable.

• After you have completed your home page and it looks presentable, it’s time to think about your links. A link is simply a way of going from your main page to additional pages. In other words, these will be the chapters of your book. For example, if your website is about cooking, you will start off by telling your readers about yourself on the main page, and the next pages of your site will be recipe 1, recipe 2, etc. Creating links is a fairly straightforward procedure, and your site host will likely have a written tutorial or video about this.

• Bear in mind that the linked pages should have the same visual presentation as your home page. If you have a clear white text background on your home page, the linked pages should be the same. Also, be sure to allow your readers to navigate from page to page by placing a neat, organized, and presentable menu on the top or side of the home page. It is also beneficial to have a navigation menu, preferably the same layout as that of your homepage, on each linked page.

Additional information

• Make your website or post is accessible to your visitors. By using some social media buttons, such as facebook they will able to bookmark your page and drive more traffic to it. This is critical if you intend to develop an online business in the future.

• Review your site before publishing, It is always crucial to check and review everything before hitting the “submit” button.

A valid question that come to mind is what is a blog. You can find tons of answers from the search engines. Basically, a Blog can be a website or part of a site, displayed chronologically were you can add articles, personal stories, diaries, news articles, and related information on what you would like to share. A person who writes, edits, or updates entries is called a “blogger”. The process of updating, contributing, and maintaining a post is called blogging. Blogs can be a collection of your thoughts, ideas, or opinions. It actually depends on what your interests in life are. In a blog, readers are usually allowed to submit their comments at the end of each post. In many ways, its purpose is to be interactive.

Blogging Sites

Honestly, I didn’t know how to start and what topic I should implement in my post. I started asking my friends, where to write a blog and I even searched and reviewed what blogging sites I should use. The answer that I got was “WordPress.” A person like myself, who didn’t have any knowledge of css, html, software programs and all the associated technical skills, would have a difficult time trying to understand and learn all of this. To say the least, I was frustrated! I tried dozens of blogging platforms in a feeble attempt to create blogs, until I finally found the right one which match my skill level. Don’t get me wrong, I think wordpress is terrific, and I do use it now. But you do have to possess a few technical skills. For the novice blogger, it is perhaps best to begin with a simple platform, which does most of the work for you, such as Yola. In many of the resources listed below, you can sign up for a free account. It is sometimes an idea to create two or three free accounts until you find a platform you feel comfortable with. So, here are some suggested sites you can experiment with and try to start blogging on.

Currently, thousands and thousands of blogs exist and some are highly innovative. Some blogger are becoming more and more popular and are moving from part time leisure blogging to full time employment as a blogger. What motivates these people to write their material? The reasons could range from making a profit to just to sharing thoughts and ideas. Personally, I started by making a website (not a weblog) about Teaching English Online which is quite active until now. My passion for cooking also inspired me to create a cooking website. From general knowledge, I created other informational sites.

I kept busy blogging for a couple of months after work. For some other bloggers, I could say, “its a source of “bread and butter.” Blogging, for me, is many of these things. I can say, however, that I am truly happy and fulfilled giving purposeful quality content to a blog. Maybe, It motivates me to keep posting new content.

I realize that many people are becoming interested on how to make money online, making a website for profit, getting traffic, and online jobs etc. Making a blog which has useless or limited content merely for the purpose of generating sales to a website is without value. Sometimes we forget how valuable content is. Many bloggers are merely focusing on advertisements, design, etc.

I was unaware of these things before I started doing research and joined several forums. Now, I have learned so much. I, in many ways, have come to realize and know what most of my readers and visitors need and want. It doesn’t matter if your post is short or long. The primary concern is that it has quality content. If you are dedicated to what you are saying, then you will not only retain your readers, but also to the search engines and all the advantages thereafter. I honestly believe that the beauty of a blogging platform is not nearly as influential as the quality of its content. If you are mindful of this, you will certainly attract and interact with more readers. The bottom line is simply blogged on what ever you’re passionate about.